Gourmand
Chef Gaston Gourmand, almost always referred to as just Gourmand, is a recurring villain in Wild Kratts. Voiced by Zachary Bennett, he made his first appearance in the episode "Platypus Cafe." He is the third recurring villain to debut in the series, and was the last to debut until Paisley Paver and her henchman, Rex, in the season 4 episode "Spirit Bear." Gourmand is a gourmet chef who uses wild animals as ingredients in his dishes. He uses his skills in the wild, an array of kitchen utensils, and his abnormally large nose to seek out and capture animals. Although the species varies, he prefers those that he deems "rare" or "endangered." Gourmand is clever and cunning, and has a strong yet dark sense of humor; he enjoys it when the Wild Kratts suffer through the situations he brings them into. At the end, however, he is always defeated, and he never gets to integrate an animal into a dish. Background Season 1 Gourmand first appears in the episode "Platypus Cafe." He overhears the Kratt brothers, Chris Kratt and Martin Kratt, commenting on how unusual the platypus is compared to other mammals, and he plots to make platypus egg omelets. He follows them to a platypus den by the riverbank, where he realizes that a flood could pose a risk to the platypus den. He heads to a dam upriver, opens the floodgates, and floods the river, successfully flushing out the platypus, its eggs, and the Kratt brothers. He then scoops up Chris and the eggs and runs off to his camper and unfolds his restaurant. However, Gourmand loses Chris after Chris tricks him into sniffing pepper. Chris then begins setting a trap to stop him. Later, fellow villains Zach Varmitech, who somehow got a hold of Chris, and Donita Donata arrive at Gourmand's restaurant. Gourmand assigns them a table before getting to work on preparing the omelet and stove. At night, Zach and Donita are still waiting for their meal at their assigned table with Chris' hands tied up. Gourmand finishes setting up the stove and is about to pour the eggs and other omelet ingredients onto it when Martin, who arrived with Platypus Power, shuts off the entire restaurant's power. Gourmand improvises by lighting a candle, but before he could pour the omelet ingredients again, Martin takes the eggs. Gourmand notices and attacks him with a spatula. Chris breaks free of his bounds, picks up the candle, and is picked up by Martin. When Gourmand corners Martin, Chris blows out the candle, extinguishing Gourmand's vision. Martin finishes Chris' trap, and afterwards, restores power to the restaurant. All the villains corner the Kratts brothers, but Zach trips a wire, triggering the trap. Three stock pots fall onto the villains, and they roll into the river. In the episode "Honey Seekers," Gourmand sends a message out to Zach Varmitech, inviting him to come to the Kalahari Desert in Africa, where he will be planning on serving him a "mystery animal" on honey. Without his knowledge, Koki intercepts the message and tells the Kratt brothers. After taking a honeycomb from a beehive, Gourmand moves onto step two: capturing the "mystery animal," which he reveals to be the honey badger. He finds the honey badger, and unexpectedly the Kratt brothers, at another beehive, and throws nets on the honey badger and the Kratt brothers. He ties the Kratt brothers to a tree and reveals to them that the honey badger is the "mystery animal." He runs off to his mobile restaurant with the netted honey badger while a swarm of honeybees surround the Kratt brothers. In spite of this, the Kratt brothers are saved from the honeybee swarm by Aviva. Afterwards, Chris, with Honey Badger Powers, enters Gourmand's mobile restaurant, but Gourmand throws dough on his deactivation button and his wrists, pinning him to the wall. Aviva also gets pinned to the wall with dough. Martin, with Honey Guide Powers, starts singing to catch the attention of some honey badgers. Once he lures them to the restaurant, Gourmand, at first, tries to stand up, but one of the honey badgers releases its odors on him and Zach (like a skunk). Honey badgers lick the dough off of Chris and Aviva's arms. Gourmand freaks out and immediately folds his restaurant and drives off while Zach flees in his jet. In the episode "The Gecko Effect," Zach Varmitech starts a video conference with Gourmand, Donita Donata, and Dabio. They end the conference after Zach insults them. In the episode "Stuck on Sharks," Gourmand arrives at the docks, gets into a small fishing boat, and sails off to find a great white shark to use its fins for shark fin soup. After preparing the broth, he uses radar to scan for tuna fish, knowing that great white sharks eat tuna fish. He ends up catching a great white shark with this method, but he also interrupted a journey the Kratt brothers were on. The Kratt brothers demand that Gourmand release the shark, but Gourmand responds by splashing them before propelling his boat away. To save the shark, Martin activates Remora Power while Chris activates Shark Power. Martin latches onto Gourmand's boat and pulls it backward. While Gourmand puts the engine on full power to counteract this, Chris leaps out of the water and flips open the cage holding the shark, releasing it. Martin detaches, and Gourmand, with his boat still on full power, gets caught in the cage and his boat speeds away aimlessly. In the episode "Raptor Round Up," Gourmand schemes to make dishes out of various raptors. The Wild Kratts catch him capturing several species of raptors on the African savanna. The Kratt brothers pursue Gourmand and sneak into his hideout, where they find cages of raptors originating from different places around Earth. After Gourmand returns, Chris activates Falcon Power and flies off with Gourmand's cooking utensils. Martin then calls the rest of the team and tells them to put on thick hand garments. As they work to take every raptor out of Gourmand's plane, Gourmand puts on a jetpack and starts pelting dough at Chris. Chris eventually gets hit and falls into a mud wallow. Luckily for Chris, Martin uses Falcon Power to pull him out of the mud. The Kratt brothers catch up to Gourmand, but Gourmand maneuvers away from them and traps them in a mist net. The Kratt brothers, however, are able to break free by cutting the net with their beaks. Later, Gourmand sneaks into the Tortuga to recapture the raptors. He finds himself in a darkened room where he can only see the silhouettes of the "raptors." When Gourmand nets one, the lights turn on. The "raptors" turn out to be Guineafowl Flappers. Aviva traps Gourmand in a large drawstring bag, activates the Guineafowl Flappers, and Gourmand is sent to raptor-less Antarctica. Season 2 In the episode "Happy Turkey Day," Gourmand bumps into the Kratt brothers in a forested region in North America. He tells them that he "is just out for a nature walk," but does not tell them about his plan to find "the largest turkey in the forest." He is later interrogated by Wild Kratts kids Gavin, Ronan, and Aidan, who were sent by the Wild Kratts to find out what he is up to. Gourmand tells them about his plan to capture the largest turkey in the forest. After he gets freaked out by the kids, Gourmand finds Martin with Turkey Powers and starts firing dough balls at him, thinking that he is an actual turkey. Chris activates Turkey Powers to get Gourmand's attention, deactivating when he closes in on him. But on round two, Gourmand notices the turkey icon on Chris's Suit's activation button and pours gravy on it. While Aviva continues trying to fix Martin's suit, Chris calls the Wild Kratts and says that Gourmand is coming their way. The kids decide to trap Gourmand in a corn maze, and Martin is to get Gourmand's attention. Martin catches Gourmand's attention and rejoins the Wild Kratts as they run into the corn maze. Inside, the Wild Kratts and Gourmand take different paths. Gourmand hears the gobbling sound of a turkey (Martin), but ends up finding a bear. The bear attacks Gourmand and tosses him around, causing him to get lost in the maze. In the episode "To Touch a Hummingbird," Gourmand is approached by a hummingbird after he finished setting up his plane/restaurant in the Central American rainforest. While following it, he is inspired to make chocolate-covered hummingbird eggs. However, the Wild Kratts, who are also searching for hummingbirds, detect him via radar. Gourmand eventually does get his hands on some hummingbird eggs and returns to his restaurant and prepares a chocolate sauce to dip the eggs in. The Kratt brothers, with Hummingbird Powers, catch sight of him. Shocked by their presence in his kitchen, Gourmand tries hitting them with a spatula, but quickly gets exhausted. The Kratt brothers, needing to refuel, do so at a nearby heliconia flower. Knowing that they are almost out of energy, Gourmand gets out his dough blaster and fires dough balls, which make no difference until he hits the heliconia. The Kratt brothers then head to a difference sugary source: Gourmand's chocolate sauce. They retrieve the eggs and send Gourmand flying off by activating his plane's autopilot. In the episode "Rainforest Stew," Gourmand attempted to make a stew out of various rainforest animals. He nets three spider monkeys and pounces on a jaguar and throws it in a cage. He smells Martin near his camp and pretends to leave. Martin attempts to release the spider monkeys, but Gourmand entangles the former's hands with dough. Afterwards, Gourmand heads out to capture more animals. He climbs up a tree and collects harpy eagle eggs. However, his ingredient list drifts away and ends up in Chris's face. Chris warns Aviva, who prepares to make Harpy Eagle Powers. Soon after, Gourmand grabs a sloth Martin named Chillax out of a tree and runs off to his camp. Unbeknownst to him, Chris is miniaturized on Chillax. At the camp, Chris concocts a plan. He hops onto a sloth moth and lands on Chillax. Chris waves a couple of leaves near a tied pulley rope holding up the three spider monkeys. Chillax pulls and unties the string at the same time he takes the leaves, causing the monkeys to fall on Gourmand. Martin frees himself by imitating Gourmand in front of the caged jaguar, which breaks the dough binding him. Gourmand, however, recoups himself, and he pushes his kitchen and the animals into his plane and flies away. Aviva arrives and gives Martin a Harpy Eagle Disc and feather, and he activates Harpy Eagle Powers. Chris, who activated Sloth Powers, opens the back hatch of Gourmand's plane and tosses the animals to Martin and Aviva. Chris also grabs Gourmand and lets him go after he said "put me down!" He falls onto a harpy eagle's nest, and the provoked harpy eagle chases him while he tries to evade it by jetpack. Season 3 In the episode "The Hermit Crab Shell Exchange," Gourmand sets up his restaurant on a beach in the Caribbean and starts picking up hermit crabs for hermit crab poppers. He finds the Kratt brothers on the beach with Hermit Crab Powers (Chris's shell is a treasure chest and Martin's shell is a tire) and starts firing dough balls at them with his dough blaster. The Kratt brothers end up rolling away after the ensuing encounter and lose their "shells." As Gourmand charges towards them, Jimmy teleports them the Miniaturizer, but Gourmand's dough balls damage it just as they shrink in size. Gourmand returns to collecting hermit crabs when the Kratt brothers enter the water to avoid Gourmand. Gourmand returns to his restaurant after collecting a stockpot-full of hermit crabs, but the Kratt brothers, now normal size, resurface and flip themselves onto his restaurant. Gourmand first attacks Chris and ends up hurling him into the water using an over-sized mixer. He then fights Martin, but Martin is able to take advantage of the spinning mixer. Gourmand is flung away, and he admits defeat before retreating. In the episode "Under Frozen Pond," Zach Varmitech invites Gourmand, Donita Donata, and Dabio to a conference he is hosting above a frozen-over pond. While Zach and Donita are arguing over Zach's whining, Gourmand pushes them aside and asks that they go outside for some fresh air. Outside, they find the Wild Kratts and some kids. The villains demand that they leave, but the Wild Kratts decide to settle the dispute with a game of pond hockey. The first to reach five points gets to stay while the loser leaves. At first, thanks to Donita's skills in skating and Gourmand's thick armor as defense while he plays goalie, the villains score four consecutive points. However, after the Kratt brothers activate their Creature Power Suits, the tides turn and the Wild Kratts score five points. The villains then desert each other. In the episode "Opossum in My Pocket," Gourmand trips over Chris's backpack while looking for some animal ingredients in the cypress swamps of Florida. After snooping inside and putting on a pair of heat-vision goggles, he takes the backpack and runs away. Later, an opossum (named Jillybean by Martin) ends up on his head. Gourmand thinks that the opossum is the perfect ingredient for his next delicacy. While working on his dish at his restaurant, Gourmand confront Chris with Opossum Powers. Chris distracts him and seizes Jillybean with his tail. Later, Gourmand jumps in front of Chris, takes Jillybean out of Chris's pouch, dumps a boulder inside the pouch, and runs away. But Martin, also with Opossum Powers, grabs Jillybean from Gourmand's pocket while he was not looking. However, Gourmand soon meets up with him. Martin suddenly falls asleep (plays dead); Gourmand places Jillybean in his pocket and continues working on his delicacy at his restaurant. He notices the Kratt brothers and Aviva when they sneak into his restaurant. The three grab Jillybean and Chris's backpack, when they notice a sack above them. Aviva pulls a string, releasing diamondback rattlesnakes. But because opossums are unaffected by rattlesnake bites, the Kratt brothers and Aviva are able to get out of the field of rattlesnakes. Gourmand unfolds his kitchen and drives away after admitting defeat. In the episode "Lemur Legs," the Wild Kratts find Gourmand dressed as an Onion Johnny on Madagascar. Gourmand tells the Wild Kratts that he is taking a vacation and is unprepared to do anything villainous, but after he gets out of their sight, he flings himself into his restaurant and gets into gear. He sends a message to Zach Varmitech and Donita Donata, inviting them to his restaurant to dine on "lemur legs amandine," which calls for sifaka lemurs. To gather sifaka lemurs, Gourmand schemes to distract the Wild Kratts by creating a few diversions. For his first diversion, he floats a radiated tortoise on a cake using party balloons. Just as he anticipated, the Wild Kratts rush to save the tortoise, and he is able to run off to his restaurant with a sifaka. For his second diversion, he spins a wheel of cheese with a pygmy hedgehog tenrec in its hub towards a spiny tree. Again, the Wild Kratts rush to save the tenrec, and he is able to capture another sifaka. For his third diversion, he sets up a miniature train with a spiny chameleon on top. He pours salt into the smokestack, and the train makes its way to a nearby river. Gourmand captures a third sifaka as the Kratt brothers try to stop the train. However, the Wild Kratts eventually realize that he is behind the disappearances of the sifakas. The Kratt brothers activate Sifaka Lemur Powers and find his restaurant and the caged sifakas. However, the caged sifakas are a trap, and Gourmand is able to lure them onto the ground and tie their legs up with dough. The other Wild Kratts members then arrive and free the Kratt brothers and the sifakas. Once everyone is out of the restaurant, Koki ties balloons to Gourmand's restaurant, and it floats up into the air with Gourmand still in it. Season 4 In the episode "Liturgusa Krattorum," Gourmand and Donita Donata receive a conference call from Zach Varmitech, who is upset after finding out that a recently-discovered species of Amazonian praying mantis, Liturgusa krattorum, was named in honor of the Kratt brothers. He claims it is unfair that the Kratt brothers get to have a species named after them while he does not. Gourmand and Donita unequivocally agree with Zach and meet him at his skyscraper in the city, where they plot to fly to the Amazon and work together to capture L. krattorum for use in their own traditional schemes. Gourmand lands his plane on the Wild Kratts' Tortuga, followed by Zach's plane and Donita's plane. When Jimmy Z and Koki see them, Gourmand skillfully descends to ground level and takes Koki's Creature Pod and crushes it with his hands, while Donita uses a beam from her plane to disable the Tortuga's communications. The villains then follow Gourmand as he uses his nose to track down Aviva and the Kratt brothers. Once Gourmand leads them to the tree where Aviva and the Kratt brothers are, the villains begin capturing L. krattorum. Gourmand pulls out a bug net and climbs up the tree, while Donita and her henchmen, Dabio, use suction to collect L. krattorum. Aviva finds out and warns the Kratt brothers of the villains' presence, and they fly down to stop them. Martin chews through Gourmand's net, releasing the L. krattorum he caught. While trying to catch Martin, Gourmand accidentally breaks the jar holding Donita's L. krattorum, which all fly away. Blaming each other for the loss of their own L. krattorum, the villains desert each other and leave the Amazon. In the episode "Pangolin Rescue," Gourmand captures several pangolins from all over the world, including the mother of an infant pangolin Martin named Artichoke. He also captures Chris in Pangolin Power, thinking he is a "new green species." After stuffing Chris in a sack, Gourmand heads to his boat and unfolds his restaurant. He picks up Artichoke's mother and plots to grind her scales to make medicinal fruit smoothies. However, he overhears Chris "asking" another captured pangolin Martin named T. Rex if he had seen Artichoke's mother. Gourmand then explains to Chris his plan to make medicinal fruit smoothies, and refuses to believe that consuming pangolin scales provides no real health benefits. He returns to preparing his smoothies, when he notices Martin, who arrived with Pangolin Power, is holding Artichoke's mother. Gourmand fires dough balls at Martin, pinning him to the kitchen wall. However, Martin uses his free tail to unpick the lock to the cage holding Chris and pangolins. The pangolins roll away and knock Gourmand into the water. Chris pulls Martin out of the sticky dough and flings him into the water, and they swim away with the pangolins. Gourmand admits defeat and unfolds his restaurant before retreating. In the episode "The Last Largest Lobster," Gourmand heads to the rocky intertidal and crashes his camper past the docks. After transforming his camper into a boat, he begins searching for the so-called "Last Largest Lobster," hoping to cook it. He puts on a wetsuit and a mechanical nose Zach Varmitech made for him so he can smell underwater. Gourmand finds Chris Kratt with Lobster Power after mistaking him for the Last Largest Lobster. He approaches Chris and claims that he is trying to "bother" and "frustrate" him. However, when he realizes that Chris saw the Last Largest Lobster, he challenges Chris to a game of "finders, keepers." They follow each other to a shipwreck, where they find the Last Largest Lobster. Gourmand and Chris then battle each other with lobster food utensils and lobster claws, respectively. While fighting Gourmand, Chris drops the Miniaturizer. The Last Largest Lobster lands on the Miniaturizer and dramatically expands in size until it rises above water. Gourmand sees the enormous lobster and goes berserk with "lobster mania." He heads toward the lobster and while tying, seasoning, and trying to crack it open, he gets himself tangled in a mess of rope. To save Gourmand, Chris heads out to the Last Largest Lobster and cuts the rope tangling Gourmand. Gourmand is sent back to his boat, which transforms back into a camper. Gourmand sobs uncontrollably as he drives away. The Last Largest Lobster is later returned to normal size when Chris resets and points the Minaturizer at it several times. Season 5 In "City Hoppers" Zach, Donita, Gourmand , and the new villain, Paisley Paver have a meeting in Zach's HQ. He steals some creature powers. Personality Gourmand is always confident that he will succeed, despite always being foiled by the Wild Kratts. He is clever and cunning, and has tricked and outsmarted the Wild Kratts several times. He often places the Kratt brothers in life-threatening situations, such as leaving them to be stung by African honeybees in the episode "Honey Seekers" and setting a trap with rattlesnakes in the episode "Opossum in My Pocket." His overconfidence also leads him to think that glaring at animals will scare them off. Gourmand has a strong yet dark sense of humor. He enjoys mocking the Wild Kratts when they are not in his sight and laughing when they suffer through the situations he brings them into. In particular, in his debut episode, Gourmand constantly referred to Chris Kratt as the "side dish" (possibly with a cannibalistic undertone) for his platypus egg omelet. Gourmand enjoys bragging about his abilities and accomplishments. He claims that he never cooks the same dish twice and that his nose can match a seasoning to "anything." In the episode "The Hermit Crab Shell Exchange," Gourmand claims that he is stronger than the Kratt brothers because of a new vitamin program he said he is taking. Gourmand likes to hum and sing, although he often does so quite off-key. On a lesser note, he is fond of trains, or choo-choos, as he likes to call them. Even when Gourmand isn't using rare or endangered animals in his recipes, he still tends to use animals that most people wouldn't consider using, for example, he stated that he once made a dung beetle omelette, and another time, tried to use grasshoppers in calzones. Relationships The Kratt brothers Gourmand and the Kratt brothers, Chris Kratt and Martin Kratt, see each other as enemies. Gourmand does not hesitate to crack a joke at their expense when he gets the chance. In his debut episode, Gourmand constantly referred to Chris as a "side dish" (possibly with a cannibalistic undertone) for his platypus egg omelet. He also enjoys threatening to eat many of their "animal friends" and trapping them in life-threatening situations. Gourmand almost never refers to the Kratt brothers by their first names, instead preferring to give them nicknames: "Green Grape" and "Green Pea" for Chris and "Blueberry" for Martin." Aviva Gourmand and Aviva see each other as enemies. Aviva does not like it when Gourmand destroys, steals, or messes with her inventions. Koki Gourmand and Koki see each other as enemies. Sometimes, Koki is the one who finds out that Gourmand is hatching a plot. Gourmand first came face to face with Koki in the episode "Raptor Round Up"; however, the closest Koki ever interacted with Gourmand was in "Liturgusa Krattorum," when he took her Creature Pod out of her hands and crushed it with his hands. Jimmy Z Gourmand first came face to face with Jimmy Z in the episode "Raptor Round Up." They have never been seen interacting with one another, but since Jimmy is a Wild Kratt and Gourmand is a villain, they nonetheless see each other as enemies. Zach Varmitech Zach Varmitech is a patron of Gourmand, and Gourmand notes him as one of his "best and highest-paying customers." However, Gourmand sees Zach as weak and annoying. His relationship with Zach has become increasingly contentious as the series progresses, although they still team up every once in a while. Zach even loans some of his equipment to Gourmand. Zach, like Gourmand, is voiced by Zachary Bennett. Donita Donata Donita Donata is a patron of Gourmand, and Gourmand notes her as one of his "best and highest-paying customers." Dabio Gourmand and Dabio were first seen alongside each other in the episode "Under Frozen Pond." However, they have never been seen interacting with each other. Trivia * If somebody is a gourmand, he or she is very fond of eating food, often to the excess. * Gourmand becomes the enemy of Thomas, Twilight Sparkle and their friends in ''Thomas and Twilight Sparkle Meets the Wild Kratts ''and guest star in their adventures to get revenge on them for ruining his plans to use animals for his meals along with Zach Varmitech, Donita Donata, Dabio, Paisley Paver and Rex (Wild Kratts). * Gourmand's cooking rival is Luigi, since Luigi likes to cook but not with rare and endangered animals. * Gourmand is best friends with Raffuzio Pulpo. 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